UC Irvine Water Polo Wins Thanks to First-Half Flurry

Fourth-ranked UC Irvine scored five goals in the second quarter and went on to defeat No. 3 California, 9-5, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation water polo game Friday at Berkeley.

The Anteaters (6-3, 4-0) led, 1-0, after the opening quarter, then Craig Watson capped the big second quarter with a two-point goal with 16 seconds remaining in the half.

Omar Amr, Ryan Bailey and Watson led UCI with two points each. Pat Cochran scored two goals to lead Cal (6-3, 3-2). Stephan Boes recorded his 26th career shutout for the Anteaters.

In Big West women’s soccer:

UC Irvine 2, North Texas 0--Lily Chowana-Bandhu and Tracie Manz each scored a goal in the victory for UCI (8-4-1, 3-1-0), snapping a three-game losing streak.

In women’s tennis:

Anteaters advance--Patty Villaroman of UCI defeated Myriam Jimenez of North Texas to advance to the next round of the Cal State Fullerton Intercollegiate Women’s Tennis Tournament. Villaroman beat Jimenez 7-5, 6-1 in the second round.

Leah Fisher and Liz Yim of UCI advanced in doubles, defeating Laural McLatcher and Lynnette Herrera of Fullerton, 6-2, 6-2. Teammates Villaroman and Fiona Jones also advanced, beating Fullerton’s Brooke Lacey and Ali Arredondo, 6-3, 6-3.